


where my love lies waiting

by paleromantic, tylerscreamingintothevoid



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Cuddles, Kissing, M/M, adam and opal are cuties i love them, adam is insecure(tm), ronan and adam are mad gay, ronan dreams adam a greenhouse because he wants adam to feel at home, so does ronan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-13 02:09:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14740059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paleromantic/pseuds/paleromantic, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tylerscreamingintothevoid/pseuds/tylerscreamingintothevoid
Summary: Adam moves in with Ronan, after his first year at college, and he has a lot of feelings about it





	where my love lies waiting

**Author's Note:**

> Title from Homeward bound by Simon and Garfunkel! 
> 
> This is my first TRC fic so I'm sorry if it's bad, but I absolutely love the characters so much and they deserve to be happy so here we are
> 
> (Thank u to my boyfriend for helping me outline this, ily)

Ronan dropped the last bag on the bed in their new bedroom and grinned. "Welcome home, Parrish."

It had only taken a couple years, but Adam had finally, _finally_ decided to just move into the Barns. He had been practically living there anyway, though, so it was basically just a formality, bringing the remainder of his belongings there.

Adam fidgeted with the hem of his sweater, a glance at the wall mirror reminding him how utterly Gansey he looked right now, before he regarded the rest of the bedroom. It was clean, presumably Ronan had tidied while Adam was on his flight over, since it hadn’t been that neat during their skype call that morning. It still looked like home, and it smelled like Ronan- which was basically home. It was so different from his old apartment though, so different to the dorms, that the prospect of living there officially for the summer was daunting, and eating away at his pride. "Nice," was all he could manage as his hands found his pockets, clenching around his keys slightly.

Ronan paused, and then turned to face him, eyebrow raised. "This bothers you, doesn't it?"

Adam looked at him, chest tightening. Ronan had always been good at reading him, in a way that Gansey and Blue hadn’t quite reached. It was still pretty terrifying, to be so easily known like that, but he swallowed that fear and shook his head in a quick denial. Ronan didn’t need any more of his emotional baggage, anyways. He had dealt with enough of that during his first year in college, and now that it was over Adam just needed that normalcy they always fell into.

"No! No, of course not."

Adam leaned against the doorframe. It bothered him that it didn't bother him, if that made sense. It wasn’t a problem, living here with his family. It wasn’t close enough to Henrietta to be a serious problem, and not far enough that Blue couldn’t visit them sometimes. It was _perfect_ , but perfect had always bothered him before. It had never come this easily, before. But he wasn't about to try to explain that to Ronan.

Ronan hummed and walked over, putting his hands on Adam's hips. "I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t ignore that shit anymore. It always leads to a fight with us.”

Adam shrugged and toyed with Ronan's collar absentmindedly. He remembered their last fight, when he had bottled up his frustrations and ended up pushing Ronan away, staying at 300 Fox Way until Blue had all but kicked him out, forcing them to talk about it. It had been awful, spending part of his only free time away from his boyfriend. "It's just... I feel a little selfish for feeling so comfortable in your place. _Your_ place, y'know? I don’t fit."

Ronan sighed and took his hand, kissing his knuckles. "Our place, Parrish. It’s not just mine anymore."

"Yeah, I know, I just." Adam sighed and tilted his head back, squeezing Ronan's hands. They were so comforting to hold on to. “It’s difficult, not having to pay for it, and not having to worry about the usual things I worried about. Unsettling.”

"You fixed up this place just as much as me. You picked the colours for the barns, when we repainted them. The animals love you." Ronan grinned a little and squeezed his hands back, before his smile turned into a smirk and he moves his hands back to squeeze at Adam’s hips, appreciating the ‘freshman fifteen’ Adam had gained, as Gansey had phrased it. “And you look _really_ good in overalls.”

Adam rolled his eyes and then chuckled, allowing Ronan to pull him closer. “Still, I shouldn’t be dragging down our first night living together with my... weird hang ups.”

His boyfriend snorted, an ugly noise that made Adam’s heart squeeze. He had missed this. "Parrish, don't fuckin’ bullshit me. It's fine, that you feel weird about it. I kind of expected you to, and we'll just work around it, yeah?"

Adam hummed. "Okay," he mumbled, passively, "so what now? Now that we're here together."

Ronan opened his bag. "We should unpack? We'll probably fall asleep on the couch later, so might as well get that done before you stress yourself out about the mess tomorrow."

"I kind of want to shower, like relax. But if you'd rather I help unpack then-"

"Pff." Ronan shoved his arm lightly, and then kissed him. "Go shower, asshole, I'll do this."

Adam sighed and stretched, his back cracking quietly. "Are you sure? I can- "

Ronan knew he was going to have to say it at least ten times before Adam would leave, so he kissed him to cut him off. "Go fucking shower, Parrish. You smell like gasoline, and it'll help with how sore your back is."

Adam hadn't even told him his back was sore. The flight had been shitty, and he had fallen asleep in a weird position and woken up with the entire lower half of his back protesting every movement. He hadn’t realised that Ronan had noticed, but then again, Ronan seemed to notice everything when it came to him.

"My back ain't..." He reddened at the slip of his accent and he stomped out of the room before Ronan could comment on it. The shower was waiting for him, the water readily hot enough that he could shower, without leaving it run for very long. Another reminder of just how different it was to what Adam was used to, what he could afford. He shook his head quickly and grabbed a towel, stripping off to distract himself from that particular line of thought.

The water quickly heated up, filling the room with light steam, and Adam stepped underneath, sighing as the water started to soothe his aching muscles. He washed his face, and ran his hands through his hair, getting it wet and humming softly, one of Ronan’s Irish songs, something about fields. He had a playlist that he listened to, early in the morning, and sometimes he let Adam listen to it with him, as they relaxed in the kitchen. His parents had always listened to them around the house, Ronan had explained, and his mother had sang them to him when he was younger. Adam loved them, especially since they weren’t the usual shitty EDM the man usually listened to. Not that he told Ronan that. His boyfriend was not above blasting bad music all the time just to spite him.

The bathroom was big, almost as big as his room back at the dorm, and the shower had good water pressure, which was completely different to what he had had at St. Agnes'. He wasn't complaining, it really was doing wonders for his back, but he couldn't help the niggling feeling of unworthiness that stuck in the back of his mind, drawing him out of his thoughts. He knew Ronan wouldn't understand, though, the man seemed to think Adam was the best person he knew. So much so that sometimes, when they were still half asleep, Adam caught Ronan’s moments of doubt, almost as if he was worrying that he had in fact dreamed him up, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Adam hated those moments, but they always passed pretty quickly.

Adam squirted some shampoo onto his hands and stood upright in the shower. He hazarded a glance to the mirror that was across the bathroom before running his fingers through his hair, pushing his fringe back and messing it up with the shampoo. The smell of gasoline was starting to fade back to the usual clean smell, and his back was more relaxed than it had been in a while, so he figured a few more minutes wouldn’t hurt, pushing down the guilt at leaving Ronan alone to o his chores. Then, he heard Ronan singing softly through the wall, as he tidied their bedroom, and it was easier to relax. Ronan liked doing things for him. It was still a jarring realisation, sometimes.

When he got back to the bedroom, he noticed that Ronan had stolen one of his shirts and was sitting on the bed, checking his phone for once. Probably Gansey, or Blue. Both, if he was lucky (or unlucky, Ronan would say). He looked up as soon as Adam walked in though, dropping his phone and whistling at Adam’s semi-nude state.

Adam rolled his eyes and kept a firm grip on his towel. "I need a shirt, Lynch."

“Do you? I like that look on you, actually.” Ronan’s smirk was shit-eating, and Adam sighed, going to rifle through his new drawers, fishing out a pair of boxers and pulling them on before letting the towel fall. He stole one of Ronan’s t-shirts, a bright green ‘Kiss me, I’m Irish’ shirt that Blue had gotten him for St. Patrick’s Day. Ronan had not been amused, but he had kept it, which Blue counted as a definite win.

He tugged it on, it slightly sticking to his skin as he did so. "Did you finish unpacking?"

Ronan nodded and sat forward, holding a hand up for Adam to take. “They're all put away, don't worry Parrish. And folded properly, too."

Adam took it hesitantly. "Is there anything I..."

Ronan kissed his hand again, tugging him closer, and Adam let himself sit on Ronan's lap, thighs against thighs. "Anything I can do? For tidying or unpacking or anything."

Ronan hummed and pulled him into a proper kiss. "Nah, I cleaned before you came over... Knew you'd wanna do work, instead of relaxing, so I figured I’d leave you with no choice in the matter."

"Am I that predictable, Lynch?" Adam raised an eyebrow, settling into his position.

Ronan laughed and then kissed him again. "Kind of, yeah."

They traded more kisses after that, soon developing into an intense makeout session, both having missed the physical contact while Adam had been focused on exams. Ronan seemed content to let his hands wander, almost mapping out Adam’s body under his clothes, as if it hadn’t only been a couple of weeks. Still, their session was cut short by a small voice, near the doorway.

"Gross!"

Ronan groaned softly and pulled back, his thumb dragging along Adam’s jawline, following the path he had just kissed. "Opal, go back outside."

Adam chuckled softly and held onto Ronan's hoodie, turning to face the door, causing Ronan to grumble a little as Adam’s head was out of reach. “Hey, kiddo, you’ve gotten taller!”

Opal came over and tugged on Adam's shirt, pressing her face into the fabric in an almost-hug, and Adam felt his chest ache. He had missed her too, almost as much as Ronan. "You're back!"

Adam rubbed her hair and chuckled, pushing himself up from where he had been lying on Ronan’s chest. "Back! And back for a while, so you won’t have to worry about me leaving for a few weeks at a time.”

Ronan smiled and held him, and Opal grinned widely, nodding. "Come downstairs? I wanna show you something."

Adam smiled and nodded again, sliding off Ronan’s lap with as much grace as he could muster. "Sure thing kiddo. What is it?"

Ronan whined at the loss of contact, and Opal tugged his hand, leading him out of the room. She brought him out through the house, and Adam noticed that there seemed to be an extension, beside where the utility room was, where Ronan kept the washer and dryer. It hadn’t been there last time Adam had been over though, he was sure of it.

"What's this?" he said, curiosity getting the better of him as he followed the small girl on her way.

Ronan huffed and crossed his arms, going red, and Opal grinned. "Kerah said you liked plants, so he built you this."

The extension, now that Adam had a better look at it, seemed to be a greenhouse, of sorts. There were tables, topped with potted plants, as well as a bookshelf full of books about magic, tarot, medicine. The former he must have gotten from Blue and Maura, but the medicine books he must have dreamed up on his own. Adam felt a warm weight in his chest as he saw how there were climbing vines against the walls, aloe plants as well as roses, fuschias, poppies. There were other plants too, things Adam had only seen online, while researching witchcraft. Ronan had made this for him, a place for the things Adam liked to do, where he could go and relax. Ronan had made room for him at the Barns, made Adam fit in among the rest of the things here. He _belonged_ here.

"This is..." Adam went a light pink, at a loss for words, for once. “This must have taken so long, Ronan… Oh, you guys didn't have to!"

Ronan wrapped his arms around him from behind and kissed his neck gently. "We wanted to. You worked so hard this year, you deserved a place to do whatever weird shit witches do."

Adam grinned and turned to kiss him quickly. "It's amazing, thank you."

Opal whined, feeling left out, and Adam, taking pity on her, scooped her up in his arms and kissed her on the cheek, prompting her to beam at him and hug him around the neck. He smiled and let Ronan pull away, following him back into the main house. Their house.

Shaking his head slightly, he settled between them on the couch, Opal curled up against him on one side, and Ronan holding his hand on the other. He had no idea how he had ever felt he didn’t belong here, with them, but he trusted that whatever other insecurities he had in the future, Ronan would be there to help him through them too.


End file.
